DWP sole customer for government-owned IT company

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) digital group will be the sole customer of a new government-owned company designed to provide IT services. But the company's operations and development is not intended to impact the department’s existing work on programmes like Universal Credit.

The BPDTS limited company, which stands for Benefits Pension Digital and Technology Services, has no plans to serve organisations or companies beyond the department, according to a spokesperson. The DWP is yet to elaborate on its reasons for forming the company.

In forming a government-owned company for the operations, the DWP has claimed that its transparency obligations with regard to the work BPDTS undertakes through the company would not be changed either.

No further details have been provided on the functions to be undertaken by the government-owned company.

The formation of the new company came to light as the DWP awarded Liberata a contract to support a number of key functions for BPDTS.

Under the contract, Liberata will provide the company with HR, payroll, finance and accounting services under a one year agreement that was finalised through the G-Cloud framework.

The agreement comes with the option for an additional one year extension as part of a contract valued at around £300,000.

Liberata expects the contract to build on its existing work with central and local government bodies that includes the Ministry of Justice, London Borough of Bromley, and Worcestershire County Council.

Liberata chief executive Charlie Bruin said the arrangement represented its first formal agreement with the department.

“Having delivered some of the most complex payroll services into government for a number of years, we are delighted that the DWP recognised our specific domain expertise in selecting us to work with its new company, BPDTS.”

Earlier this year, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) announced it was establishing a government-owned company under the name of Revenue and Customs Digital Technology Services (RCDTS). The company was formed as a means to ensure prompt payments to suppliers and other organisations. It responsibilities include providing a percentage of prompt payments that are actually made.